What a Universal surprise

As if NBC's misfortunes were not bad enough...well, what happened on Sunday was surprising indeed. Sister company Universal Studios went through a fiery time of their own. A fire destroyed much of their studio back lot. That is sad indeed considering some of the greatest films and television series ever made were done at Universal. Amongsted the casualties: much of the city settings you've been seeing in films for the past few decades, and the "courthouse" set of the "Back To The Future" films. That is sad indeed. Much of the film companies could not make their product without these great sets. Otherwise they'd spend a whole lot more going on location. Yes, it will take millions of dollars to rebuild the sets, but I can guarantee you they won't be the same.

Another bit of bad news...much of their archived films and videotapes were also lost in the fire. But here is the good news...duplicates of what was lost were made, and luckily Universal had the good sense of making back-up copies for storage elsewhere. That is very, very important, especially in an era where film preservation and restoration is extremely critical. Otherwise much of our entertainment history would now not exist for us to see.

I hope that film companies and archivists everywhere will learn a huge lesson from the Universal fire. Just making one copy of a film is not enough. You have to make several, so if one is ever lost there will be at least one more to go by. Much of what we've made since the beginning of the 20th Century has already been lost. But much of what is left can be saved if we put our minds to it.

That is your "Fire 101" lesson for today. There will be a test later.